For 12-year-old Stephanie Silva, beauty isn't just created in her 6th grade art class.

It is also found everywhere in nature. As the president of the Going Green Club at Ruben Dario Middle School, Stephanie has made it her mission to preserve and enhance the green space they have at their school.

The vegetable garden is the club's pet project. But it's just the start.

Stephanie lives by the motto: "Reduce, reuse, and recycle" and encourages her classmates to do the same.

"I tell them little things they do can make a difference, instead of not doing anything," she said. "If they aren't part of the solution, they are the problem."

Stephanie has taken her green campaign all the way to the top, lobbying her principal to reduce school electricity, to add recycling bins in the classrooms, and put eco-friendly posters up in the hallways.

Stephanie says you need to find ways to grab the attention of kids and adults.

Stephanie is so green, it's even the color of her nail polish. But she isn't afraid to get those nails dirty, emptying all the classroom recylcing bins every week with her club members.

As for being named an Eco Hero finalist, when she got the news, she screamed.

"Because I finally get to live my dream," she said. "And I finally get to prove to my family that you can make a difference no matter how old you are,"

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